It is not actually calico, but rather a buckskin paint. I saw the most beautiful buckskin paint at a horse clinic. I think I would have taken a second mortage on the ranch to have gotten a hold of that beauty.

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Horse coat color genetics 101. All horses fall into 3 basic color groups, red, black and white. Anything other than that is simply a variation or modified genes. Red and black are obviously the most common and a truely white horse (not advanced grey, cremello, or perlino) is rare. A buckskin paint is genetically a black horse with a modifying gene making all hair but points (mane, tail, legs, and ears) red, then that is modified with the creme gene making all red hair cream and not affecting any black hair, and then there is the gene that makes it a paint, wether tobiano, overo, sabino or what ever gene is expressed, sometimes several. A dun gene is different from a creme gene and are totally different but can exist in the same animal expressing characteristics of both. So you can call it calico if you want I wont tell.

A grullo is also just a black with a dun gene and thats all, unlike creme, dun genes will affect some black hair but the effects of dun arent usually as light colored as with the creme and the horse will maintain a more bronzy look rather a creamy look. If a creme gene is added to simply a black horse it will appear black but not express the creme because that doesnt affect the black, many people dont know this unless its a stallion or mare that produces offspring resulting in palomino or buckskin from another non creme horse, or it can be tested for.

Oh yes I did forget to mention a double dose of the creme gene in which the offspring receives one from each parent resulting in cremello or perlino offspring and that is also homozygous for creme meaning every foal produced will either be palomino, buckskin, smokey black which is the one that doesnt express the creme, or another double gened cremello if the other parent is a creme variation. The cremello and perlino have two creme genes but one's true red or black color determines either or. Cremello is truely a red horse with two creme genes and perlino is a truely black with two creme genes,,,,,,,,,,,,,two doses of the creme will affect black hair, and only one dose does not which creates palominos (reds) and buckskins (bay, otherwise black).

Excellent teaching on color genetics!In a way that's easy to understand.Now how about a session on the variations on paint coats? .....just Kidding! Yes a buckskin would be the closest thing to a calico, but if you were to say something in reference to a calico horse, you would not be taken seriously by any authority on horses. Stick to the term, Buckskin Paint.BTW Buckskin is my favorite color,Paint or solid. bred my Cherry bay to a cremello hoping for that buckskin, yikes...CHERRY bay...got a Palomino.....who cares, she was beautiful anyway...sold her when the drought got so bad there was no hay...and of course, it started raining 2 months after I sold her......